Trump faces the judge in the Stormy Daniels case as his lawyers ask for case to be delayed by months

Donald Trump glared at the courtroom gallery and the cameras as he arrived at a crunch hearing in the Manhattan hush money case with his lawyers demanding that it be delayed for months.

The former president has denied a 34-count indictment related to him falsifying business recorded in connection with a $130,000 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.

The 77-year-old sat at the defense table between his attorneys and with his hands clasped on a day where two of his biggest legal nightmares have collided.

He will likely hear when he’ll face the first of his four criminal trials and also has just hours to come up with the cash to cover the $464 million bond in the New York fraud case.

Judge Juan Merchan will have to decide if a last minute document dump from federal prosecutors should delay the case in the state court in New York.

The Manhattan District Attorney’s office claims that such delays are a ‘red herring’ and part of a ‘strategic delay’.

Trump walked into the courtroom scowling and pursing his lips after telling reporters outside: ‘This is a witch hunt. This is a hoax’. He was wearing a dark blue suit and a bright red tie.

There were 10 court security officers and seven Secret Service agents present in the courtroom, which was packed with more than 60 journalists. 

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg was in court and sat in the second row of the public gallery holding a brown folder containing two files. 

Before his appearance, Trump ranted on Truth Social that the fraud fine should be ‘zero’ and claimed the hush money case should be dismissed because it is being ‘coordinated by the White House’. 

He also said he shouldn’t have to sell his ‘babies’ in his real estate empire because he did ‘nothing wrong’.  

The Donald walked out of Trump Tower just after 9am on Monday morning without his usual fist pump to waiting photographers and onlookers. 

The payment was made just days before the 2016 election and prosecutors claim it amounted to an illegal campaign contribution.

The trial was supposed to begin on March 25th but was delayed until at least mid-April after the US Attorney’s Office in Manhattan released more than 200,000 pages of evidence from its inquiry into Michael Cohen, Trump’s former personal lawyer.

But the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, which is bringing the hush money case, says that just 270 documents – or 31,000 pages – of the material is relevant and that the case should go ahead next month. 

Trump and his lawyers have also torn into Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who brought the case, for trying to bury information that would damage Cohen’s credibility. 

Should the trial go ahead it will be the first of four criminal cases that Trump faces.

He is accused of election interference at a court in Washington over his role in the January 6th insurrection but the case is on hold pending a Supreme Court ruling on whether he has immunity.

Trump faces a trial in Florida for mishandling classified documents but it is mired in delays and a tentative date for the trial this summer appears unlikely.

He is also accused of election interference in Georgia, however there is no date yet set and prosecutors have been ensnared in allegations of improper behaviour.

Trump has said that he does not have the money to pay despite claiming to be worth billions of dollars.

The New York State Attorney General, Letitia James, has already moved to start seizing Seven Springs, Trump’s golf course and private estate just north of Manhattan.

Trump could receive a massive boost when his social media company Truth Social floats on the stock market which could net him $3.5 billion.

But the windfall would be on paper only for at least six months due to laws which forbid him from selling too soon.